Thursday, July 09, 2015

Britain on Vintage Film

The BFI's Map of Britain on Film is an amazing way to step back in time and view historical film footage of locations throughout the UK.

I spent hours watching vintage film videos from the British Film Institute when creating my There and Then application. There and Then superimposes vintage films on top of the filmed location on Google Maps Street View. While creating There and Then I often day-dreamed of a map which allowed you to find old film clips by location. My dream has now been fulfilled.

Zoom-in on an area (or use the search box) and you can find nearby locations which feature in old films. You can then click on the displayed map markers and watch a video of the selected vintage film. The map features thousands of film, providing an amazing insight into British life in the Twentieth Century.

As well as searching by location, you can search this mapped archive of historical film by decade and by subject. The BFI does charge for watching some of the films but I found that more than enough of the films are free. There is definitely enough free footage here to keep me entertained for hours.